


Star Trek: Heart Gold

by Cakemage



Category: Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver & Crystal | Pokemon Gold Silver Crystal Versions, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Gen, Humor, Pokemon Battle, Pokemon Journey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-16 20:32:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1360801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cakemage/pseuds/Cakemage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven mysteriously wakes up in New Bark Town and is sent on her own Pokemon adventure, whether she likes it or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

“Hey. Hey! Are you okay? Are you dead? Oh, geez…”

With a soft groan, Seven opened her eyes to find the worried face of a young boy staring down at her.

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re alive,” the boy said, sitting back with a relieved smile.

Seven quickly assessed her condition and determined herself to be functioning within acceptable parameters. Her nanoprobes had already repaired most of the damage, and her pain levels were tolerable. What was bothering her was the fact that she had no idea where she was or how she’d gotten there; the last thing she remembered was preparing her portable alcove for an away mission. She pulled herself to her feet and looked at the boy who’d woken her. To her surprise, a quick scan revealed him to be human, though no one she’d never met. Beside him stood a small, round blue creature which for some reason did not show up in her internal database. She frowned slightly, and scanned it again. The most her sensors could tell her was that it was a form of water-based mammal and, for some reason, its “level” and “stats,” though what that meant, she didn’t yet know.

She settled into the parade rest stance with ease and stared at the boy with veiled interest.

“State your designation,” she ordered. After a short pause, she added, “Please,” because the Captain and the Doctor’s social lessons had been focusing on manners lately. 

“Er…my name is Ethan, if that’s what you mean. And this is Marill,” he said, gesturing to the creature beside him.

“Marill, Mar-Marill!” it chirped happily, causing Seven to quirk her eyepiece in surprise. This creature was intelligent enough to speak?

“So, um, what’s your name?” asked Ethan. 

“I am Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One,” she replied. 

Ethan blinked twice. “Well, do you know what happened? Where you are?”

“No,” she said, simply.

There was an awkward pause.

“I see,” said Ethan, eventually. “Well, do you at least know where you came from?” he added hopefully.

“Yes.”

Ethan cocked his head to the side curiously, then gathered Marill into his arms and stood up. 

“Well, I can at least tell you where you are. We’re in New Bark Town, in the south of the Johto region. My house is just through these woods. I can take you there, if you’d like,” he offered helpfully.

Seven nodded, and Ethan smiled at her, and then seemed to notice something odd.

“Hey, where’re your Pokémon? It’s dangerous to wander in these woods without one, you know,” he said.

“Pokémon.” Seven repeated skeptically. 

“You mean you don’t know what a Pokémon is?” Ethan exclaimed in shock. “Just how hard did you hit your head?”

Seven didn’t feel that was worthy of a response. Taken aback, Ethan floundered momentarily while he tried to think of the best way to sum up the world of Pokémon.

“Well, um. How do I explain it? Our world is inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon, like Marill here for instance. There are hundreds of different kinds of them, and they all have special abilities. You can catch ‘em and keep them in pokeballs like this,” he said, demonstrating by taking his pokeball off of his belt and recalling Marill to it.

Seven tilted her head to the side in shock; the creature had been converted into pure energy as it was pulled into the ball. Perhaps this planet was advanced enough to help her get back to Voyager. 

“Most people keep Pokémon as pets, but you can also get them to battle other people’s Pokémon or wild ones. They make great protectors; I wouldn’t even go into a patch of tall grass without Marill by my side,” Ethan went on. 

He pressed the button on his pokeball, re-releasing Marill. The little creature hugged his legs and chirped its own name happily.

“You said these creatures have special abilities?” Seven asked.

Ethan grinned and pointed to a nearby bush. “Marill, why don’t you show her a water gun?”

With a cry of “Ma-Marill!” the Pokémon fired a long jet of water from its mouth, soaking the bush and stripping half of its leaves off.

Seven blinked. Her sensors indicated that the amount of water produced was greater than the entire mass of the Pokémon that had produced it, and yet the creature’s shape remained the same. Furthermore, the creature had not been propelled backward from the force of the spray as it should have been. She couldn’t see how any of this was possible. 

“Impressive,” she said weakly. 

“Thanks!” said Ethan. “We’ve been training extra hard lately. Hey, I’ve got an idea.”

“Yes?”

“If you follow me, I can take you to my neighbor, Professor Elm’s house. He can teach you a lot more about Pokémon, and maybe you’ll start to remember things. He may even give you a Pokémon of your own!”

Seven didn’t know where he’d gotten the idea that she had amnesia, but she decided it might be better to let him continue to think so until she knew more about the planet. She nodded and allowed him to lead the way. They had made it to the edge of the forest when suddenly a small, raccoon-like creature jumped out in front of them. It raised itself up on its overlarge tail and growled at them. 

“Sentret, Sen-Sentret!” it said, making a “bring it” motion with its forepaw.

Ethan grinned and turned his baseball cap backwards. “Ready for a crash course in Pokémon battling, Ms. Seven?”

“Acceptable,” she replied, though she had been about to shoo the creature out of the way herself.

“Marill, go! Use Tail Whip!” he shouted, pointing towards the Sentret. 

With an overly-dramatic battle-cry, Marill wagged its zig-zagged tail. To Seven’s surprise, the Sentret defense stat was lowered, though it still tackled Marill with as much force as it could muster. The small blue Pokémon didn’t seem at all fazed by this, and when Ethan ordered it to Tackle the opposing Sentret right back, it did so with gusto, eliminating its hit points entirely and causing it to faint. It soon woke up, however, and woozily scampered off into the underbrush. Suddenly, there came a soft “ding!” noise from Marill’s vicinity. 

“Yes! You finally leveled up!” Ethan shouted, pumping his fist into the air. 

As she stared at the Marill, her scanners revealed that this was true; all of its stats had been raised by two points and its hit points had been raised by three. Exactly how or why this happened, Seven wasn’t entirely sure. It was true that defeating opponents generally made one stronger, but it did not usually happen quite so quickly. Perhaps this Professor Elm could explain this phenomenon.

They resumed their course out of the forest and soon emerged in a small suburban neighborhood overlooking a lake. 

“That’s my house over there,” Ethan said, gesturing towards an ordinary-looking home near the edge of the forest.

“And that’s Professor Elm’s lab across the road,” he continued, pointing out one of the only two-story buildings on the street. “Wait, what’s going on over there?” 

A teenage boy with long red hair was staring hungrily into one of the side windows. He sneered at them as they approached. 

“Um, what are you doing?” Ethan asked him, his brows furrowed in suspicion. 

“None of your business, that’s what,” the other boy replied, scowling.

Seven watched the two boys’ aggressive posturing and Marill’s attempts at threatening gestures with mild amusement. The red-headed boy’s intentions were undoubtedly hostile, but Ethan and his Pokémon seemed more interested in proving their strength to another stranger than anything else. 

“You have two seconds to get out of my face,” said the boy, raising his fist to strike at Ethan. 

Before he could throw his punch, however, Seven was behind him, grasping his clenched hand in her own Borg-enhanced hand. She gave it a quick, sharp squeeze for emphasis. The boy groaned in surprise and pain. 

“You have two seconds to vacate these premises,” she said, whirling him around and giving him a rough shove as she released her grip. 

The boy fell to his knees, clutching his injured hand and glaring through tears at Seven and Ethan, who for his part was gaping, slack-jawed, at the scene.

“One,” said Seven.

Taking the hint, the boy scrambled to his feet and took off towards the woods. As he disappeared, Ethan stared at her in wonder, and Seven began to worry that she had committed a social error.

“That…was…awesome!” he shouted, pumping his first in the air. 

“Ma-rill!” trilled the little Pokémon, mimicking its owner. 

“He posed a threat. I eliminated that threat,” Seven replied simply.

“Speaking of threats, I wonder what he was up to,” Ethan said, scratching his chin. “Guess we should tell Professor Elm to keep an eye out for him, in case he comes back.” 

Seven nodded and followed him into the laboratory, where a bespectacled man in a lab coat was going over a mound of paperwork. He looked up as they approached, and did a double-take when he noticed Seven’s tightly-clad form and metallic facial adornments. He seemed to be momentarily tongue-tied as he gazed at her, but regained a modicum of composure.

“Hey there, Ethan. Who’s your friend?” he asked hoarsely while trying in vain to smooth back his spiky hair. 

“This is Seven,” Ethan replied cheerfully. “She hit her head out in the woods and now she can’t remember where she is or what Pokémon are. We were hoping you could help her.”

Seven raised her eyepiece at this, but nodded in agreement all the same.

“Ethan, you know I’m not that kind of doctor. I’ve got some basic first aid stuff here, but if she really hit her head that hard, she needs to go to the hospital,” said Elm, his brow furrowed with concern. 

“That will not be necessary. I am functioning acceptably,” said Seven.

Professor Elm scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I can’t force you to go, but all the same, I’d feel better if you at least let my wife and her Blissey check you over.”

“Blissey,” Seven repeated skeptically.

“Told you she forgot about Pokémon,” Ethan piped in.

Elm tilted his head to the side in bewilderment. “So it would seem,” he said after a moment’s pause. “Well, Blissey is a type of Pokémon that has a knack for healing and taking care of others. A lot of doctors, like my wife, own them for that reason.”

“Fascinating,” Seven replied honestly. It seemed there was more to the world of Pokémon than she had initially assumed.

Professor Elm smiled and nodded. “There’s really no end to the ways in which Pokémon can help us in our everyday lives. Now, Ethan, why don’t you go and fetch my wife while I teach Seven a bit about Pokémon.”

“Sure thing,” Ethan said, and bolted out the side door, his Marill trailing close behind. 

After an illuminating ten minutes, Ethan returned with Dr. Elm in tow.

“Sorry for the wait,” she said, pulling a pokeball off of her belt and releasing the Blissey kept within. “I had to stitch up another idiot who went into the tall grass without their Pokémon.” 

She sighed and went on. “They just never learn. You’d think that after that kid from Goldenrod City got mauled by a swarm of Zubat in Ilex Forest, everyone would realize that ‘hey, wild Pokémon are dangerous!’ But no, they just keep on-“

Professor Elm coughed meaningfully and said, “Uh, dear, you were going to check her over?”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” she replied. 

She put her medical bag on the table and opened it, pulling out her various tools of the trade. Seven’s heart sank when she saw how primitive they were; the medical supplies couldn’t have been more advanced than those of mid-21st century Earth. Perhaps they wouldn’t be able to help her get back to Voyager after all. Still, she didn’t protest as Dr. Elm and her Blissey, a large, pink, egg-shaped Pokémon, thoroughly checked her over to the best of their abilities. 

“Well, I can’t see anything physically wrong with you,” said Dr. Elm as she finished up, “but may I ask where you got those metallic ornaments on your face and arm?”

Seven hesitated while the other people and Pokémon in the room stared at her curiously. 

Finally, she answered carefully, “I was in an accident when I was a child.” 

Sensing that that was the best answer she was going to get, Dr. Elm moved on. “And the suit?”

“It protected my skin while it healed,” Seven replied.

“Is it still…necessary, though?” Dr. Elm probed.

“I no longer need it for protection, but I’ve never required anything else,” said Seven. She wasn’t sure where this line of questioning was going. 

“I see. Well, I’d be happy to loan you a different outfit, if you’d like,” said Dr. Elm as she shot a glare at her husband, who was trying to discreetly ogle Seven’s breasts. 

“Thank you, but it is not necessary-“

Dr. Elm cut her off. “Oh, not at all, I insist.”

She got a dangerous look in her eyes, and Seven knew that resistance was futile. 

“Very well,” said Seven reservedly, and she allowed herself to be led by hand by the overly-happy Blissey out the side door and up the stairs into the apartment above the lab. 

“I’ll wait here for you, Seven!” Ethan cheerfully called out after her. 

In the apartment, Dr. Elm directed her to the master bedroom. 

“We’re about the same size,” she said, opening her closet and surveying its contents.

Eventually she selected a pair of baggy jeans, a belt and a black tank top. She handed the clothes to Seven and then stole a glance at her feet. 

“Er, hmm. I’ve got a big pair of flip-flops that might fit until you can find something…more your size,” she said carefully, grabbing said flip-flops and setting them on top of the clothes. 

Seven got the strangest suspicion that she was being insulted somehow, but decided not to press the issue. She accepted the clothes, then set them on the bed and began to peel off her biosuit. Dr. Elm blushed bright red and jumped back in shock. 

“Bliss-Blissey!” squealed the Pokémon, so badly startled that she fell backwards and couldn’t get back up. 

“Wait until I leave the room, please!” Dr. Elm shouted, covering her eyes with one hand and pointing to her dresser with the other. “And please, take one of my sports bras out of the top left drawer!”

With that, Dr. Elm helped Blissey get back on her feet, and the two of them darted out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Seven sighed and finished undressing. It seemed that she had made a social error; she had forgotten how oddly behaved humans became where nudity was concerned. She wondered why neither the Doctor nor Captain Janeway had placed more emphasis on this fact during their social lessons. She decided to ask one of them as soon as she got back to Voyager. In the meantime, she did as directed and got dressed in her new outfit. The flip-flops and bra were too small, but bearable. She began to neatly fold her biosuit when she noticed something odd: her combadge was missing. 

Before she could ponder the implications of its absence, however, there was a knock at the door. 

“You dressed?” Dr. Elm called out.

“Yes. You may enter,” Seven replied.

Dr. Elm opened the door and appraised Seven’s appearance. “Much better. I bet that’s a lot more comfortable than that skintight suit, not to mention the heels…”

Seven nodded in agreement, though she didn’t really care much either way. Physical comfort had always been low on her list of priorities.

“Good. Well, come on back downstairs; my husband and I have some things to discuss with you,” said Dr. Elm. 

This did not bode well, but Seven followed her back into the lab all the same. 

“Hey, Seven! You look great!” Ethan greeted her cheerfully, while his Marill chirped its agreement.

“Ethan just told me about the boy you saw staring into the window. While I’m sure he was just curious and that there’s nothing to worry about, I’m not sure I feel comfortable leaving the lab unattended. This is where you come in,” began Professor Elm. “I just got an email from a colleague of mine called Mr. Pokémon.”

Seven raised her eyebrows and Ethan snickered behind his hand. 

“Yes, I know, but it’s what he prefers to be called, and who am I to judge?” Professor Elm said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, he says he received a strange Pokémon egg from the couple who runs the Pokémon Day Care, and he’d like me to take a look at it. Since I don’t feel comfortable leaving the lab unattended, and since you’re interested in learning about Pokémon—don’t give me that look, I can tell you’re at least curious—I thought it would be a good way to get some firsthand experience with them. I’ll even give you your own Pokémon as payment. What do you say?”

Seven considered this for a moment, but could think of no reason to say no. At the moment she had no way of contacting Voyager, no weapons and no knowledge of how or why she was on this planet to begin with. Additionally, these people had shown her nothing but kindness, and she felt she owed them a debt. And, if she was honest with herself, the concept of Pokémon was intriguing. 

“Yes,” she said finally, causing Ethan to grin and give her two thumbs up.

“Wonderful! You won’t regret it, I promise,” Dr. Elm said warmly.

“First thing’s first, though. You need a trainer’s license,” said Professor Elm, rifling through his desk drawer.

After a moment’s searching, he pulled out a sheet of paper, then grabbed a pen from a coffee-cup that said “For Science!” on its side. It reminded Seven of her Captain, and she felt a short pang of homesickness as she thought about her. She brushed the feeling aside and approached the desk as Professor Elm beckoned her over. 

“Fill this out and then we’ll take your picture and you’ll be all set,” he said, handing her the paper and pen. 

She nodded and quickly filled in the questionnaire, then handed it back to Professor Elm. 

“Now just stand over there in front of that blue screen and try not to blink,” he said, pointing towards the photo station. “…And that’s all. Your license should be ready by the time you get back. Now for the fun part.”

He pulled three pokeballs out of his desk drawer and released the Pokémon kept inside. The first one was a small, light-green creature with a large leaf on its head and a friendly smile, the second a dancing blue bipedal crocodile with a hungry look in its eyes and the third a dark-blue Pokémon with a yellow belly, a long nose and small flames coming out of its back.

“You can choose your very first Pokémon from one of these three: Chikorita, Totodile or Cyndaquil,” he said eagerly.

As she considered her options, the Totodile waddled up to her and chomped down on her pants leg, narrowly missing her actual leg. 

“Oh look, he likes you!” Dr. Elm cooed, clapping her hands.

“Looks like he made the decision for you!” Professor Elm added, grinning hugely. 

“What’re you going to name him?” Ethan asked.

Seven fought the urge to ask what was wrong with them, for the Totodile was now in a death roll and showed no signs of letting go. She estimated her chances of surviving this ordeal.

“Zero,” she said, reluctantly catching the pokeball that Professor Elm tossed to her. 

She quickly recalled the newly-dubbed Zero back into his ball. He took a portion of her pants leg with him. 

“Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t attached to those jeans anyway,” said Dr. Elm with a casual wave of her hand. 

“I was not worried about that,” Seven assured her.

“Oh. Um, good,” Dr. Elm replied, taken aback. 

There was a brief, awkward pause that was eventually broken by Professor Elm.

“Before you go, Seven, you’re going to need a map,” he said, rifling through his desk drawer once again.

He pulled out a map and unfolded it, then marked out the best route and handed it to her.

“I’ll follow you to Cherrygrove City, Seven. I need to buy some more pokeballs; dad said I could catch another Pokémon if I want to,” said Ethan. “I’m thinking either a Hoothoot or a Rattata. Hey, I could show you how to catch a Pokémon while I’m at it!”

“Acceptable,” Seven replied. 

She quickly studied the map and memorized the route, then nodded to Ethan. He followed her out the door. As soon as they were gone, the Elms breathed twin sighs of relief.

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought I’d never get rid of that horrible little Totodile,” said Professor Elm.


	2. Chapter Two

As they walked along the grassy, sunlit path leading towards Cherrygrove City, Ethan carried Marill and chattered happily about the kinds of Pokémon they could expect to see along the way. Seven, for her part, remained silent as she contemplated her situation. She was no closer to an answer to why she was there or how she was going to get back to Voyager. She certainly didn’t have any answers regarding what to do with her new Totodile companion. She suspected that assimilating it would be in poor taste, though she was tempted all the same. 

“—So since it’s daytime, we should see plenty of Pidgey and Sentret on our way to the city, but nighttime is when the Hoothoot come out. Hey, are you listening?” he asked suddenly.

“Yes,” Seven replied.

“Just checkin’,” he said with a grin. “You looked so preoccupied. Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

“Home,” she said.

“Oh. Where are you from, anyway? I’ve never seen you around here before,” Ethan asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

Seven hesitated, then said, “Far away.”

Ethan blinked. “Uh, okay. So…what were you doing out in the woods?”

“I am still uncertain,” she replied honestly. 

He frowned sympathetically. “Well, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll start to remember things soon.” 

Before Seven could reply, a small purple rat jumped into their path.

“All right! A Rattata! Seven, why don’t you and Zero take this one? It’ll be your first battle!” he said exuberantly, once again all smiles.

Reluctantly, Seven pulled her pokeball off of her belt and released Zero. The Totodile danced in place as it reformed, gleefully chanting its own name. 

“Now give him a command,” Ethan said helpfully.

Seven nodded. She did not need the assistance, but she knew his intentions were good. Zero stopped dancing and stared at her expectantly, as the Rattata pawed at the ground in anticipation. Seven quickly analyzed the Totodile and learned what his two available moves were.

“Use Leer,” she said.

Zero obediently turned to the Rattata and gave him a wide, hungry grin that caused the purple rat to back away slowly and his fur to stand on end. Ethan shuddered visibly, while Seven felt a sudden coldness in the pit of her stomach. The Rattata tried to escape, but Zero, moving with great celerity, blocked his exit. Left with no other alternative, he closed his eyes and tackled Zero as hard as he could, to little effect. 

“Scratch him,” Seven said, growing ever more uncertain as to the morality of her actions.

Zero growled menacingly as he slashed at the defenseless Rattata with both sets of claws, knocking him out and earning twenty experience points. Somewhat shakily, Seven raised the pokeball to return him, but before she could, Zero grabbed the Rattata in his jaws, violently shook him three times, and then swallowed him whole. Ethan’s jaw dropped and Seven’s eyes widened in shock. Wordlessly, she recalled the now-sated Zero to his Pokeball and clipped it to her belt. She began to wonder if she should legitimately fear for her life. 

After a few moments of quiet horror, Ethan broke the silence by stating the obvious. “That…wasn’t supposed to happen.” 

“No,” Seven replied. 

He went on. “I mean, yeah, some wild Pokémon do eat others, but I’ve never seen a tame one do that. Mostly they just eat pre-packaged Pokechow, which yeah, is sometimes made with Pokémon meat depending on the type but—“

“I’m taking him back to Professor Elm,” Seven said firmly, cutting off Ethan’s increasingly panicked rambling.

“Wait, maybe we should take him to a Pokémon center first, to make sure there’s nothing wrong with him,” he replied, calming down slightly. “Besides, we’re almost to Cherrygrove.”

Seven looked skeptical, so he went on, “Tell you what, just keep him in his ball and Marill and I will take care of any wild Pokémon we come across from now on.”

Seven considered this for a moment, then replied, “Acceptable.”

They continued their journey in relative silence, which was broken only when a wild Pokémon attacked. Along the way, they encountered three Pidgeys, a Sentret and another Rattata, all of which were easily taken down by Marill. Finally, they reached the outskirts of Cherrygrove City. 

“There’s the Pokémon Center over there,” Ethan said, pointing to a white building with a red roof.

They approached the Center, but were stopped by an elderly man wearing plaid shorts, grey knee-socks with sandals and a white button-down shirt. 

“Ho there, Ethan! Who’s your friend? Wait, don’t tell me,” he said, cutting Ethan off before he could respond. “You’re a rookie trainer, aren’t you? I can tell!”

“Yes,” Seven replied dispassionately, while Ethan sighed in resignation.

“That’s okay! Everyone starts out as a rookie! Now then, follow me,” the man said, turning around and walking towards the Pokémon Center.

Seven looked to Ethan, who rolled his eyes and shrugged, then began to follow the man. Seven tamped down her growing irritation—the man reminded her of Neelix—and followed suit.

“Now this,” said the elderly man as they caught up, “is the Pokémon Center. You’ll be relying on them a lot. Luckily, their service is free, so don’t be shy about using them!”

He motioned for them to follow him and continued on down the road. Soon they reached what looked like a convenience store with a blue roof.

“This is the Pokemart. They sell all sorts of useful supplies that you’ll need to keep your Pokémon in top shape,” he said.

Ethan and Seven exchanged glances, but said nothing, and followed the old man as he went on.  
He came to a stop at a fork in the road.

“Route 30 is out this way. You can usually find young trainers out there battling anyone who happens by. If you go that way, be prepared for a fight.”

He led them straight down the path, which ended at a small beach. Ethan smiled and allowed Marill jump out of his arms as he breathed in the sea air. Marill chirped his own name happily as he landed in the sand and ran to the shore to play in the gentle waves. Even Seven couldn’t suppress a small smile at the sight of the small blue Pokémon bobbing along in the water. 

“And this, as you can see, is the sea!” said the old man cheerfully. “You can find all sorts of Pokémon in the water if you have a fishing rod or a Pokémon who knows Surf.” 

He turned and headed southeast, and Seven, Ethan and Marill reluctantly followed him. After a short walk, he came to a stop in front of a small house. 

“This is my house! Thank you both for keeping an old man company. Wait here, I’d like to give you a small gift,” he said, turning and entering the house before either of them could respond. 

Seven glanced at Ethan, who shrugged and said, “He does this with every new trainer who passes through Cherrygrove. Shows ‘em around, then gives them either a region map, berries or shoes for their trouble. Personally, I think he’s kinda lonely.”

Seven nodded in understanding, then began to think about the man’s similarity to Neelix. ‘Perhaps he too is lonely, and that is why he behaves in such a frivolous manner,’ she thought, tilting her head slightly to the side. 

Before she could think too deeply on the matter, the old man exited his house and approached them again. 

“Here you are, then!” he said cheerfully. “A Sitrus berry each.”

Ethan’s eyes widened delightedly. “Cool, thanks!” he said, eagerly taking the proffered berry and handing it to Marill, who danced about and chirped happily.

“Thank you,” Seven said, hesitantly accepting the berry. During her impromptu lesson on the basics of Pokémon, Professor Elm had briefly covered the topic of giving them items to hold, but she had no intention of putting her fingers close enough to Zero to give him anything.

With a final wave, the old man went back into his house and Seven and Ethan continued their trek to the Pokémon Center. 

***

“Well, I can’t see anything outwardly wrong with him,” said Nurse Joy as she returned Zero to his Pokeball and removed her thick, padded gloves, which had proved to be a necessity after he had tried to bite her. “But I’d like to give him a full-body scan to make sure there’s nothing internal that’s making him behave this way. I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep him here overnight, but we have complimentary sleeping quarters upstairs if you’d like to stay nearby.”

Seven nodded. “I must finish my errand, but I will return when it is complete.”

“Whoa, Seven! You can’t go to Mr. Pokémon’s house without a Pokémon, it’s not safe!” Ethan exclaimed. 

Seven was about to reply that she was capable of taking care of herself, but Ethan went on.

“Though I suppose you could take Marill with you. I won’t be leaving town for a while, anyway, so I won’t need the protection.” 

As she considered his offer, Marill stared up at her, pointing to himself and giving her the most gooey-eyed smile he could manage. Seven sighed. “Acceptable.”

“Great! Here’s his pokeball, though I don’t think you’ll need it. He prefers to stay out and walk along,” he explained, handing the ball over to Seven. “Okay, I’m going to go buy some supplies. I’ll meet you back here, all right?”

Seven nodded, and the two left the Pokémon Center and went their separate ways. 

The road to Mr. Pokémon’s house was, for the most part, peaceful and quiet, allowing Seven ample time to think over her situation. She believed there was a reason she was there, but there was as yet no evidence as to what that reason might be. She wondered why her combadge was missing, when she knew she had been wearing it before she lost consciousness and awoke on this planet. It was possible that someone may have stolen it or it had just fallen off in the forest, but for reasons she could not explain, she didn’t believe that either possibility was the case.

Her train of thought was temporarily derailed by the appearance of another low-level Sentret, which only managed to attack once before it was taken down by Marill.

“Efficient,” Seven complimented him with a nod of satisfaction, causing him to preen.

They passed a pair of children having a battle, which was soon won by a young boy and his Rattata, who, Seven noticed, had unusually high stats. She wasn’t sure what the boy had done to raise his Rattata’s battle stats so high in such a brief amount of time—the purple rat was only a level five—but she decided that it was none of her concern and continued her journey. She only encountered two more Pokémon along the way, both of which were quickly dispatched by Marill, who grew another level in the process. Seven gave him a brief nod of approval, and he cooed with pleasure. Finally, they arrived at Mr. Pokémon’s house. The door was already open, so Seven walked right in. There were two older men sitting at a table in the living room, one wearing a suit and tie and reading a file, and the other wearing a lab coat and typing on a laptop. There was a large green backpack with an odd lump in it in the center of the table. The man in the suit looked up as she approached, and gave her a warm smile.

“Hello, hello!” he said as he stood up. “You must be Seven! Professor Elm said you were coming by.”

He gently picked up the backpack and handed it to Seven. “Inside that bag is the thing I want Professor Elm to examine. It’s an odd egg I got from some friends of mine who run a Pokémon day-care center. At the time they didn’t have any breeding pairs of Pokémon staying with them, so it’s a mystery as to where it came from. Professor Elm is the authority on Pokémon breeding and evolution. Even Professor Oak here recognizes that,” he nodded towards the man who was still intently typing on his laptop. “If anyone can tell us what type of Pokémon this egg holds, it’s Elm.”

“I see,” said Seven as she slipped the backpack on, taking care not to jostle the egg within.

Suddenly, Professor Oak looked up as though he had just noticed Seven’s presence. 

“So you’re Seven, then! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry for ignoring you, but I got caught up in my research. I’m sure you know how it can get,” he explained with a mildly embarrassed smile.

Mr. Pokémon rolled his eyes good-naturedly at this.

“Yes, I do. I accept your apology,” Seven replied, though she did not see why he felt the need to apologize for it. She too preferred to focus her attention on scientific data rather than people. Perhaps she had met what Commander Chakotay referred to as a “kindred spirit.” 

“Ah, what a fine Pokémon you have there. Did you get him from Professor Elm?” Oak asked, getting out of his chair and kneeling down to take a closer look at Marill. 

“No. He belongs to Professor Elm’s neighbor, Ethan,” Seven replied, then briefly summed up the events of the past few hours.

As she spoke, Professor Oak scratched his chin in consternation while Mr. Pokémon set about making tea. 

“—and I am uncertain what I should do next,” Seven finished. 

“Well,” said Oak, “first off, I think you did the right thing by taking him to the Pokémon Center for testing. There could very well be an underlying physical cause for his violent behavior and we at least need to rule it out, but personally, I doubt the scan will find anything. While a trainer-owned Pokémon eating another is unusual, it’s not entirely unheard of, especially when the Pokémon involved is a Totodile. They can be difficult Pokémon to handle, even for experienced trainers. For someone brand new to Pokémon, like you, it’s a far greater challenge. But I’m sure Professor Elm would not have given him to you if he didn’t think you were up to the task,” he said reassuringly.

Seven nodded and so did Marill, who was pretending to have understood what Professor Oak had just said. 

“In the event that his scan reveals no abnormalities,” said Seven, “What can I do to prevent such an occurrence from happening again? 

“I wrote a research paper on the subject several years ago. If you’re willing to wait a few minutes, I’d be happy to print out a copy for you that you can read at your leisure,” said Oak, sitting back down in front of his laptop and setting to work. 

“How about a cup of tea while you wait, hmm?” Mr. Pokémon said, setting his Peter Buneary-themed tea set down on the table.

“Yes,” she said, reaching for a cup that had a line of hand-painted Buneary wearing blue jackets and hopping around its sides. Then, as an afterthought, she added, “Thank you.”

She inhaled the scent of the hot beverage as Mr. Pokémon poured it into her cup; it smelled of mild green tea and something very similar to raspberries. When it was full, she picked it up, took a delicate sip and suppressed a sigh of pleasure.

“Lovely flavor, isn’t it?” Mr. Pokémon asked as he handed a cup to Marill, who gulped it down greedily. “It’s one of my special blends; I call it Razz Berry Heaven.”

Professor Oak stood up, grabbed a cup of tea and walked over to the printer where a thick sheaf of papers laid waiting. He stapled them together, then handed them off to Seven, who folded them up and slipped them into her pocket.

“This should give you all the information you need to keep your Totodile under control. You may have a difficult time with him at first, but I promise that if you stick it out, it’ll be worth it,” he said.

Seven nodded, but she wasn’t sure she believed him. 

“One other thing,” said Oak, rifling through a bag next to his laptop. “You seem to be dependable, and you’re obviously a woman of science, so I’d like to give you this.”

“It is not necessary,” Seven said quickly, sensing that she was going to be sent on another errand.

“Oh, nonsense. I insist,” Oak replied jovially, holding up a small red device. “This is the latest version of the Pokedex. It will automatically record data on any Pokémon you see or catch and send it to my computer. I’d like it if you’d try to document information on all of the Pokémon in the Johto region. A bright young woman like you should have no problem pulling that off,” he finished with a winning smile.

“You are attempting to flatter me,” Seven stated plainly. 

“And appeal to your scientific nature,” he added cheerfully.

She sighed, set her tea down and accepted the Pokedex. “Very well.”

Professor Oak beamed at her, while Mr. Pokémon smiled and shook his head knowingly. Seven felt a stab of irritation at this. 

“Excellent! Now, I have to get going, or I’ll be late for my radio show in Goldenrod,” said Oak as he hastily snapped his laptop shut and stuffed it into its case. 

“Seven, I’m counting on you!” he added, rushing for the door.

“You just met me,” Seven replied, but he was already outside.

Mr. Pokémon chuckled in a way that made Seven’s fists clench. “That man’s always late for something. So, I guess you’ll be heading back to the Pokémon Center for the night? I suppose Ethan will be wanting his Pokémon back, and you’ve got some reading to do,” he said, a touch wistfully.

“Yes, I should not keep him waiting,” Seven replied.

She pocketed the Pokedex and adjusted the backpack’s straps, then made for the door. 

“Feel free to keep the bag, by the way,” said Mr. Pokémon as he waved her out. 

Once she was gone, he closed the door and slumped against it. 

“God, I’m so lonely.”

***

The trek back to the Pokémon Center was much quicker than the outward journey had been. As he’d promised, Ethan was inside, pacing frantically. As soon as he saw Seven and Marill come in, he sagged in relief. 

“Seven! Thank goodness you’re here,” he panted. “Professor Elm just called; someone broke into his lab and stole one of his Pokémon! We have to get there right away!”

“Explain why. Are the police officers of this region not capable of managing this situation?”

Ethan gave her a mildly condescending smile. “I keep forgetting that you’re new around here. Anyway,” he unsnapped a pokeball from his belt, “here’s Zero. Nurse Joy gave the okay for him to battle in case of an emergency, but he has to be brought back here as soon as the crisis is over.”

Seven suppressed another sigh and accepted Zero’s ball, then returned Marill’s. 

“Great, now we just need a plan of action,” Ethan said eagerly, while Marill attempted a salute.

“You will remain here with Marill. I will apprehend the thief,” Seven said firmly.

“Aw, but Seven—“

“This discussion is terminated. You are not to venture outside. Resistance is futile,” Seven replied. 

“Fine, but take this potion. It’ll heal Zero up if he gets hurt,” said Ethan, handing her a small spray-bottle. 

“Thank you,” she replied, and left. 

She did not have far to go before she spotted the same red-headed boy she’d frightened off earlier. He was now wearing an arm-sling and there was a pokeball on his belt that he hadn’t had before. He caught sight of her and approached her, scowling. Seven settled into a parade rest stance and met his gaze impassively.

“So,” he said as he drew near, “Professor Elm gave you a Pokémon. It’s wasted on a wimp like you.”

Seven said nothing, but glanced at his sling. His face reddened and his scowl deepened.

“Well, I have a good Pokémon now, too. Let’s go,” he went on, taking the ball from his belt and releasing a miserable-looking Chikorita. 

Reluctantly, Seven released a much more subdued Zero from his Pokeball. He glanced at Chikorita, then stared up at her, expectantly.

“Use Leer, then Scratch. Do _not_ eat him,” Seven commanded, silently vowing to assimilate him if he did.

Zero seemed disappointed by the final order, but he obediently stepped towards the Chikorita and Leered at him hungrily, drooling slightly as he did. So intense was his gaze that even the red-headed boy backed off and looked uncomfortable. 

“Chikorita, use Tackle. And uh, is that normal?” he asked, his bravado momentarily fading.

“It is for him,” Seven replied.

Chikorita’s Tackle did a fair amount of damage and knocked Zero down, but it didn’t seem to have any lasting effect on him. Within seconds he was back on his feet, and he followed Seven’s second order, wildly slashing his claws across the Chikorita’s face, eliminating more than half of his hit points and causing him to bleed green sap. The little green Pokémon staggered backwards and used the leaf on his head to wipe the sap off of his face. He then looked up at his trainer for his next order. Instead, the red-head kicked Chikorita back into the fray. 

“Tackle it harder next time, you useless houseplant,” he spat, glaring at the shivering green mass that was his Pokémon.

Seven’s eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. Borg though she may be, she was no longer inured against the suffering of others. This was now—as she’d heard her crewmates often say— _personal_. Had she been wearing a hat, this would have been the point where she turned it backwards. 

“Zero, use Scratch again. I repeat, do not eat the Chikorita once he has fainted,” she said in a cold tone that brooked no argument.

Zero sighed heavily, but did as he was told, once again raking his claws across Chikorita’s face, causing sap to fly in several directions. His hit points gone along with his will to fight, the green Pokémon fainted, causing Zero to level up and learn Water Gun. He celebrated by spraying the unconscious Chikorita in the face with a stinging blast of water. He awoke, coughing and sputtering, and pulled himself to his feet, glaring at Zero and undoubtedly cursing at him in his Pokémon language. Zero began to laugh and dance at this, and Seven, feeling a headache developing, returned him to his pokeball.

“Hmph. Happy now?” asked the red-headed boy as he gave her the victory money. “Well, enjoy it while it lasts. My name is Silver, and I’m going to be the best Pokémon trainer ever.”

With that, he recalled his Chikorita and tried to leave. Seven stopped him by grabbing his good arm. 

“Where did you get that Pokémon?” she asked.

“None of your damn business,” he replied, trying in vain to free himself.

“A Pokémon was stolen from Professor Elm’s laboratory,” Seven said with a suspicious glare.

“And you think I did it? Try and prove it,” he scoffed, still trying to yank his arm free from Seven’s iron grip.

“I will,” said Seven. 

Knowing that it would be inconvenient to drag Silver all the way back to Professor Elm’s lab, she instead opted to release Zero to assist her. 

“Do not harm him, but do not allow him to escape,” she commanded, releasing her hold on Silver’s arm.

“To-totodile!” Zero responded happily, hopping in place.

Silver took the opportunity to try to run, but Zero was on him before he could take two steps. The Totodile latched on to his pant-leg much like he had done to Seven, and began to tug. Silver tried to shake him off, but that too proved futile. Finally, he gave up.

“Fine, I’ll go with you to Professor Elm’s lab,” he said bitterly, throwing his hands up in surrender. 

Seven nodded. This was never in doubt. She made him walk a few paces ahead of her, with Zero happily waddling along behind him, clearly enjoying his power-trip. Seven made a mental note to read Professor Oak’s study as soon as she had a spare moment. The trip to Professor Elm’s laboratory was quiet and uneventful, mainly because any wild Pokémon who approached would quickly flee in terror upon seeing Zero’s grin turned on them. 

“He’s not gonna get any XP like that, you know,” Silver pointed out as a Sentret tripped over itself in mad terror as it tried to get away. Zero chuckled darkly.

“Experience points are not my primary objective in this mission,” Seven replied, keeping a close eye on her Pokémon.

“What are you, some kind of robot? Talk normal!” Silver said, kicking a small rock.

Seven nearly replied with her usual “I am Borg,” response to such questions, but decided against it in this case. She still did not know enough about this planet to know whether or not it was safe to disclose her identity. 

Instead, she said, “The phrasing ‘Speak in a normal fashion’ is preferable to ‘talk normal.’”

Silver scoffed. “Whatever you say, robot-woman.”

Seven was not going to dignify that with a response. They arrived at Professor Elm’s lab shortly thereafter to find a police car in the driveway. Seven knew what it was because Tom Paris had shown her several old cop shows on his old television. She relaxed slightly. They could take custody of the boy and take over investigating the case and she would be free to pursue her primary objective, which was finding a way back to Voyager. Professor Oak would have to find someone else to fill his Pokedex.

The three walked into the lab in time to overhear Professor Elm talking rapidly to a female, blue-haired police officer. “—and he was about fourteen or fifteen, with long red hair and his arm in a sling.” 

“Like that guy?” asked the policewoman, pointing at Silver, who was trying to hide behind Seven. 

“That’s him! That’s the boy who stole my Chikorita!” Professor Elm exclaimed. “Seven, how’d you do it?”

“That is irrelevant,” said Seven, grabbing Silver’s good arm before he could bolt. “The culprit has been apprehended.”

Seven let go of Silver as the policewoman approached and took the pokeball off of his belt, ignoring his protests, and released the Pokémon inside. Chikorita wearily got to his feet, wincing at the scratch marks still on its face.

“Chika?” he murmured pitifully. 

“Poor thing could use some healing,” said the cop. “Looks like it’s been through hell.”

Seven glared at Zero, who didn’t even have the good grace to look guilty. 

“Toto _dile_ ,” he said proudly, pointing to himself. 

The policewoman ignored him, recalled Chikorita and tossed the pokeball to Professor Elm. 

“Heal him up quickly so I can take this one in for questioning,” she said, putting her hand on Silver’s shoulder.

“Surely you don’t mean to take poor Chikorita with you?” asked Professor Elm as he placed the pokeball into his healing machine.

“Afraid I have to,” said the cop. “He’s our evidence. Don’t worry, you’ll get him back soon enough.”

“Hmph,” said Silver.

“Well, all right,” said Elm, taking the ball out of the machine. “But his day has been traumatic enough for the poor guy, so please be gentle with him.”

“I’ll treat him like he was one of my own,” the officer assured him as she took the ball back. “C’mon you, let’s go.”

As she directed him out of the building, Silver said over his shoulder, “This isn’t over, Seven.”

Seven merely gazed at him impassively.

Professor Elm sighed. “Sad, when a kid so young turns to theft. Well, anyway, how’d your visit with Mr. Pokémon go? Did you get the egg?”

“Yes,” Seven replied, gently taking her backpack off and unzipping it. 

She took a large, curiously-spotted egg out of the bag and handed it to the Professor. 

“Fascinating! I’ve never seen a Pokémon egg like this! This is a great discovery!” he exclaimed happily, all worries forgotten.

“Yes, Professor Oak seemed to believe so as well,” Seven replied.

“Oh, he was there, too?” Elm asked eagerly.

Seven began to sum up her encounter with Professor Oak, but was interrupted by Zero climbing into the sink and turning the faucet on, splashing water everywhere. She recalled him into his pokeball and continued her story while she and Elm cleaned up the mess. 

“That’s amazing, Seven!” he declared enthusiastically when she was done. “Oak has a knack for judging the potential of trainers. You may have what it takes to become the region champion!”

“The champion,” Seven repeated flatly. 

“You know, take the Pokémon League challenge! Collect eight gym badges and challenge the Elite Four! Didn’t I explain all of this to you earlier?”

“You did, but I fail to see—“ Seven began, but Elm cut her off.

“The first gym you’ll want to challenge is in Violet city. I’ll mark it on your map. If you start from Cherrygrove bright and early tomorrow, you’ll be there by noon,” he said excitedly.

“I am not going,” she replied, but was ignored.

“My wife and I will provide you with traveling supplies as thanks for rescuing Chikorita,” he went on, oblivious to Seven’s growing confusion and irritation, “so don’t worry about that.”

“I was not, because I am not going,” she said, though she knew he would ignore her.

“Sleep on it at least, Seven,” he said, surprising her. “It’s the chance of a lifetime. I know you want to go home, but look at it this way: going on this journey will give you the chance to meet all kinds of people and especially Pokémon. You’ll be able to fill your Pokedex and advance our scientific understanding of the world around us. You’d not only be doing Professor Oak a service, you’d ultimately be helping the world of science. Don’t you want to be a part of that?” 

This gave Seven pause. She briefly wondered what Captain Janeway would do in this situation, but the answer was immediately clear.

“Yes,” she said, finally.

Professor Elm clapped his hands together and beamed at her. “Wonderful! You won’t regret it, I promise! Now, I’ll have Ethan bring you the supplies first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, why don’t you get back to the Pokémon center and get some rest? You’ve had a busy day!”

Seven nodded. She _was_ beginning to feel the effects of the day’s activities. “I must also inform Ethan that it is safe for him to leave the Pokémon center.”

“Oh, I can call him on his Pokegear and tell him that,” Elm said with a wave of his hand. “Speaking of, you should probably consider getting one of those pretty soon. If you get a last-gen model they’re not too expensive. Win a few battles and you’ll have it paid for in no time.”

“I will take that into consideration,” Seven replied.

“Oh, and before I forget,” said Elm, grabbing a card off of his desk, “here’s your trainer’s license.”

“Thank you,” she said, and with that she left the lab and began her return journey to the Pokémon center.


	3. Chapter Three

Seven had just made it to the edge of town when she saw Ethan and his Marill leap down a small ledge and cheerfully barrel towards her. 

“Hey, Seven!” Ethan called out, waving at her as though she hadn’t already spotted him.

He rapidly caught up to her and leaned forward with his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. Marill arrived seconds later, but was unable to stop himself in time to keep from crashing into the back of Ethan’s legs. Both boy and Pokémon tumbled to the ground in a twitching, laughing heap. Seven tried and failed to suppress a smirk as she helped the two to their feet. 

“Heh, thanks!” said Ethan bashfully as he dusted himself off.

“You are welcome,” she replied, having regained her normal, stoic expression.

“Anyway, I just heard from Professor Elm! He told me you got his Chikorita back!” he said, near-bursting with excitement. 

“Yes. It was not difficult,” said Seven. 

“What’s more impressive is that you managed to keep Zero from eating it. How’d you manage that?” Ethan asked.

“I ordered him not to, and he obeyed. I’m not entirely certain why,” she replied honestly.

“Huh, go figure. Well, maybe he just needs a firm hand?” he suggested.

“Professor Oak was of that opinion,” said Seven.

Ethan’s eyes widened and he clasped his hands together with glee. “You met Professor Oak? He’s my hero! Aw, I wish I could’ve been there! What’d he say?” he fired off rapidly.

“He gave me a research paper he wrote on the subject of raising Totodile. He also gave me a Pokedex,” she added as an afterthought.

Ethan let out a small squeak of joy, which startled Marill into falling down once more.

“May I…may I hold it?” he asked as he helped his Pokémon back to his feet.

“Yes,” she replied, though she was uncertain as to why he was so enthusiastic about the prospect. The capabilities of the device had failed to impress her upon initial examination, though she reminded herself that the technological standards of this planet were most likely not as high as she was accustomed to. 

She took off her backpack and dug the Pokedex out of the front compartment and handed it to Ethan. He gazed at it reverently. 

“Wow,” he said in a hushed tone. “I’ve wanted one of these for ages. I can’t believe you got one on your first day as a trainer! Lucky!” 

Seven wasn’t sure if “lucky” was the word she’d use to describe the situation, but she elected not to say so. Ethan reluctantly handed the Pokedex back to her with a sigh. 

“Hey, I wonder what the entry on Totodile says?” he said suddenly, perking up. “Maybe it has information on why Zero is the way he is. It can’t hurt to find out. You can never have too much knowledge, after all.”

“Agreed,” said Seven, nodding approvingly. 

She opened the Pokedex and selected Totodile from the otherwise empty list. Below the information on his name, type and physical dimensions, there was a short paragraph of description.

“Its powerful, well-developed jaws are capable of crushing anything. Even its Trainer must be careful,” Seven read aloud. 

Ethan scratched his chin. “Okay, so maybe that wasn’t as useful as we’d hoped.”

Seven was about to agree, when something else occurred to her. “My examination of this device revealed that it already contains basic information about Pokémon, so why is capturing one required in order to reveal its species’ data? What is the purpose of this exercise?”

Ethan opened his mouth, then closed it again and tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows knotted in confusion. “Well, you see…uh, hmm. Y’know, those are very good questions,” he finally replied.

Seven was suddenly filled with a very strong impulse to swear. Though she was able to repress the urge, she couldn’t entirely disguise her growing frustration. Ethan took note of her narrowed, slightly-twitchy expression and wisely, if clumsily, changed the subject.

“So hey, how ‘bout I show you how to catch a Pokémon?” he said with excessive cheer.

“Yes,” she replied, defeated. 

As if on cue, another Rattata leapt from the tall grass, calling out a challenge in its Pokémon language. She pointed to Marill with one forepaw, then scratched at the ground defiantly.

Ethan beamed and pumped his fist into the air. “Perfect timing! Marill, go! Tackle!”

With a fierce cry of its own name, Marill hurled himself at the Rattata, knocking her down and taking out a sizable chunk of her HP in the process. Undeterred, she simply picked herself back up and responded with a tackle of her own. Due to the difference in level between her and Marill, the result was not nearly as impressive. He simply rolled his eyes. 

“All right, her health isn’t as far down as I’d like it to be, but I don’t want to risk fainting her, so I’m going to go ahead and try to catch her now. Fingers crossed!” Ethan explained as he wound his arm up to throw a Pokeball at the Rattata’s head like a baseball.

Finally, he released the Pokeball with a flourish and watched eagerly as it sped towards the small rat Pokémon. It opened in midair and a beam of light emerged from the ball’s center and enveloped the Rattata and converted her into energy, which was drawn back into the ball. It snapped closed and landed on the ground, trembling slightly. Ethan clenched his fists and held his breath as the ball shook from side to side. When it came to a stop with a small “ding,” Ethan let out a whoop of victory and began to do an awkward little happy-dance with Marill. 

Despite her frustration with both her situation and the frankly illogical nature of the world she’d been stranded on, Seven still had a hard time suppressing a smile at Ethan and Marill’s joyous celebration. Though she considered their enthusiasm towards life in general to be somewhat excessive, in some ways she also found it reassuring. In them there was neither guile nor hidden motives, which made her interactions with them much simpler and more straightforward than what she was accustomed to. However, she had been a student of humanity long enough to know better than to allow herself to get used to such conduct.

“I think I’m going to name her Cheddar. Whatcha think?” Ethan said, breaking Seven out of her reverie. 

“Acceptable?” she replied uncertainly. Naming things had never particularly been her strong suit. 

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna go with that,” he said with a nod, and then added, “Is it weird that I don’t call Marill by a nickname? You’re probably wondering why I don’t.”

Seven was not, but she chose not to say so. The Captain had recently discussed with her the importance of not automatically correcting people when they said things like this, so instead, she nodded and said, “Why not?”

“Well, it’s kind of a dumb story,” he replied with a self-deprecating grin. “Y’see, I got him for my birthday, only I had just broken my arm and I was on some pretty strong painkillers. Long story short, his official name is Blorp.”

“Blorp,” Seven repeated dispassionately.

Ethan nodded. “Yup. I think I was trying to name him Blue, but I’m not really sure.”

“Why not change it to Blue, then?” she asked.

“I’d like to, but it’s a long way to the name rater’s service in Goldenrod City. It’s a day’s walk at best and my parents don’t have time to drive me there. Maybe I’ll go once school lets out for the summer, though. I’ll be visiting my grandparents a lot then, anyway.”

Seven tilted her head, confused. “Why do you have to go there in order to change your Pokémon’s name?”

“I think it’s something to do with, I dunno, registries and stuff like that? I guess?” he replied uncertainly. “I mean, I’ve never really thought about it. That’s just the way it’s always been done.” 

Seven felt a headache developing. “I see,” she said. 

“Anyway, I’ve gotta get home ‘cause Dad’s making spaghetti and there’s no way I’m gonna be late for that. Hey, wanna come have dinner with us? It won’t be a problem for him, ‘cause even with the way Marill and I eat, there’s always leftovers,” said Ethan, smiling self-consciously as his stomach rumbled.

“I appreciate your offer, but I cannot accept. I must return Zero to the Pokémon Center as Nurse Joy instructed,” Seven replied with a twinge of regret, as her own stomach reminded her of its emptiness. 

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Well, maybe some other time. Before I go, I want you to have the rest of these Pokeballs. I didn’t need as many as I thought I would, and if you’re gonna take the Gym challenge, you’ll need to fill up your party. Also, maybe Zero would calm down if he had some friends,” Ethan suggested as he handed Seven a shopping bag with five Pokeballs in it.

Seven raised her eyepiece doubtfully.

“Okay, maybe not that last bit, but still,” Ethan amended with a laugh.

Seven nodded and accepted the bag. “Thank you,” she said, and then added, “I will take your advice into consideration.” 

“Cool! I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Seven!” he said, propping Marill up on his shoulder and jogging off towards his house. 

No sooner had Seven set foot on the grassy walking path to Cherrygrove City than another Rattata leaped out in front of her and began to nervously dance in place. Reluctantly, Seven released Zero from his Pokeball. 

“’Dile!” he said, licking his chops and hungrily eyeing the purple rat, who began to realize his mistake and back away slowly.

“Zero, use Scratch, but do nothing else,” she said firmly.

The Totodile sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders, but obediently waddled towards his opponent and half-heartedly swiped his claws across its face. The Rattata squealed in pain and tried to tackle him, but at the last moment Zero dodged, whirled around and used his tail to trip his foe, causing him to fall face-first into the dirt. This seemed to amuse Zero greatly, for he himself fell backwards, pointing and laughing at the coughing, sputtering Rattata and deliberately ignoring Seven’s glare. 

For her part, she could see both that the wild Pokémon would not be able to withstand another attack and that Zero was growing hungry and impatient. It was clear to her that while she might be able to prevent him from killing and consuming the Rattata if she allowed the battle to continue, the safest option would be to capture him. Quickly, she dug a Pokeball out of the shopping bag, tossed it towards the still-winded Pokémon and watched with bated breath as the ball snapped shut and landed on the ground. To her surprise, it only trembled once before the tell-tale “ding” of a successful capture sounded. She wondered if the Rattata had also realized that his best hope for survival lay in allowing himself to be captured.

She recalled Zero, who was growling and showing her both of his middle fingers, then kneeled down to pick up the now-still Pokeball. As her hand closed around it, an unfamiliar, yet very pleasant feeling washed over her. After a moment’s pause, she clutched the ball against her chest as she began to understand that, however fleeting they may be, the feelings she was experiencing at that moment were a perfect blend of happiness, pride and warmth. She pressed the button on the Pokeball, letting her new Pokémon out. He looked up at her expectantly. She studied him for a moment, not quite sure what to do next. She supposed the first step was naming him.

“Mus,” she said after a brief pause. 

It was, perhaps, not the most creative name, but the Rattata seemed pleased enough with it. He squeaked his name approvingly at her and hopped into her lap. She hesitated, then uncertainly stroked the top of his head. He closed his eyes and pressed up against her hand like a cat, eager for more affection, which Seven gave as best as she could. After a few moments of this, she abruptly realized that she was smiling; another unusual experience, but one that she was beginning to enjoy. 

As she continued to pet him, she noticed that Mus’ hit points were low, so she dug a potion out of one of the backpack’s pockets and sprayed it on him, instantly restoring his health. He sighed and gratefully pressed his head into her free hand. Though the acts of giving and receiving genuine affection still felt strange and awkward for Seven, she was beginning to understand its appeal. Nevertheless, it was time to move on. She gently set Mus on the ground, then stood up. 

“Follow me,” she instructed, as she saw no reason to return him to his Pokeball.

“Ratta!” he replied cheerfully, and obediently positioned himself at her heels.

Seven nodded briskly, stepped forward, and was immediately dive-bombed by a Pidgey, who latched onto her face and began trying to tear her silver eyepiece off. After a brief struggle that mostly consisted of flailing, blood-spatter and Mus ineffectually attempting to help, she finally managed to detach the creature and hurl him onto the ground, past caring about whether or not he was injured in the process. 

“Tackle it, quickly!” she ordered, gasping for breath. 

Even through the haze of blood and feathers, Seven could see that Mus was shivering with fear. He hesitated for the briefest of milliseconds, then closed his eyes and hurled himself at his foe with all of the force he could muster, taking out a good chunk of the Pidgey’s hit points. The bird, temporarily distracted from his quest for shiny things, tackled him back, causing Mus to shriek in pain despite the fact that very little damage had actually been dealt to him.

“Tackle him once more,” said Seven as she continued to pick feathers out of her wounds and hair.

Mus whimpered as pitifully as he could, but he could see that it would do him no good. He squeezed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth and attempted to tackle the bird again. He missed, and the Pidgey took the opportunity to launch himself back at Seven’s face. Though she managed to swat him away before he made contact, she knew that he would not be deterred for long. She quickly grabbed another Pokeball and hurled it at the Pidgey’s head, successfully capturing him. 

“Pest,” she said irritably as she bent down and picked up the ball. 

Mus nodded and squeaked approvingly at this name, then flopped over onto his back in the hopes of receiving a belly-rub. He probably would have gotten one had Seven not suddenly been overcome with the realization that she’d just caught a bird that was hell-bent on destroying her face. She sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose as she’d often seen her Captain do in stressful situations. She did some quick calculations in her head and came to the conclusion that while Pest was not worse than Zero, it was a very close contest. The thought of Zero gave her an idea, though. Perhaps this situation could be remedied.

“I will let you out when it is safe,” she said to Mus as she recalled him to his Pokeball.

With that done, she took a deep breath and freed Zero from his ball. He materialized with his stubby arms folded and a scowl on his face. He glared up at her and tapped his foot impatiently, as though waiting for an apology. She met his gaze with a well-practiced glare of her own and held up Pest’s ball. 

“I am going to release a Pidgey from this Pokeball. You are not to eat him,” she commanded, mentally adding a ‘yet’ to the end of her last sentence. “However, should he attempt to attack either of us, you will restrain him until further notice. Is that clear?”

Zero appeared to consider this for a moment. He made weighing motions with his hands and tilted his head from side to side. Finally, he nodded in consent, but pointed to his mouth and rubbed his belly as he did so.

“You will be fed when we reach the Pokémon Center, which will happen more quickly if you cooperate,” said Seven. 

Zero sighed and said “To to-to,” which Seven took to mean “Fair enough.”

Still keeping a careful eye on Zero, she pressed the button on Pest’s ball and let him out. Though momentarily dazed, he recovered quickly. He glanced up at Seven’s face and, with a squawk of his species’ name, he started half-flying, half-climbing up her legs in his effort to get to her shiny metal facial ornaments. 

“Zero, now!” Seven commanded, flinging Pest to the ground. 

With a joyous cry, Zero pounced, clamping the struggling bird’s wings to his sides and pointedly salivating on his face. Pest instantly went still, gazing fearfully up into Zero’s gaping maw.

“If you attack me again, I _will_ allow him to eat you,” said Seven, cutting right to the chase. “Do you understand?”

Pest gave her a terrified nod while never taking his eyes off of Zero’s disconcerting grin. 

“Release him,” she said.

Zero hesitated, but then seemed to get an idea. He flung the bird at Seven’s face, obviously hoping she’d interpret it as another attack. She was not fooled, and recalled him to his Pokeball as he was gearing up to pounce. For his part, Pest allowed himself to fall onto the ground into a quivering heap of fear and desperation. He stared up at Seven and cooed gratefully at her as the Totodile disappeared. 

Seven clipped Zero’s Pokeball onto her belt, then released Mus out of his. After rubbing his head up against Seven’s legs like a cat, he took notice of Pest and cautiously moved towards him, his nose twitching with curiosity. 

“He is safe to approach,” Seven assured him.

This appeared to be sufficient to alleviate Mus’ worries, for he quickened his pace and eagerly sniffed at Pest, who had begun to relax now that he was no longer in immediate danger of being devoured. Seven allowed them to examine one another for a moment, then addressed them both.

“If you continue to behave acceptably, you may both remain out of your Pokeballs for the remainder of the journey to the Pokémon Center,” she said. 

Pest saluted her with his right wing, while Mus crossed his heart. Seven wasn’t entirely sure what the latter gesture meant, but she nodded her acceptance and set off once more. 

The rest of the walk to Cherrygrove City was relatively uneventful. Seven’s facial wounds stopped bleeding and began to heal themselves, and only a handful of Pokémon challenged her en route. She was able to persuade both Mus and Pest to battle them all, causing them to level up twice each and preventing her from having to call Zero out to fight. Soon enough, they emerged from the tall grass and entered the city, with the Pokémon Center in sight. 

“Ah, there you are!” came a voice a short distance away. 

Seven turned and saw the elderly man from earlier carrying a small box and approaching her as fast as he could.

“I was afraid you’d gone on ahead already and—my goodness, what happened?” he asked, taken aback by the drying blood that still remained on her face.

Seven pointed at Pest, who was pecking at some crumbs he’d found on the ground. “He tried to steal my facial ornaments.”

The old man nodded understandingly. “Ah, say no more. Until I switched to contacts those little bastards were always going after my glasses. Well, anyway, here. These are also for you.” 

He handed her the box, and gave her a winning smile as she opened it to discover a new pair of running shoes that looked like they were her size, along with an unopened bag of white, cushy socks. Seven gave him a questioning glance, uncertain how to react.

“They were for my wife, you see. Unfortunately, she never got to wear them before…” his voice caught on the last word and he looked down, deflated. “Well, I want you to have them now,” he finished quaveringly.

“I see,” said Seven, as realization dawned. “Thank you,” she added sincerely.

“Think nothing of it,” he said, waving her off. “Now you take care now, you hear?”

Seven nodded and gave him a small, sad smile while she scanned her internal database for an appropriate verbal response. “I will. Please do so as well,” she said.

The old man chuckled. “No worries there,” he replied. 

With that, he turned and headed back towards his house, humming to himself. Seven watched him for a moment, then turned and walked into the restroom adjoining a nearby gas station to clean the blood off of her face and pin her hair back into place. Once satisfied with her appearance, she exited the restroom and sat down on a bench outside the store, then set about changing shoes. After a day walking in too-small flip-flops, she was beginning to reevaluate her opinion on the importance of comfort. The new socks and shoes fit her perfectly, and she could not hold back a sigh of relief at the way they cushioned her feet when she stood up. She took off her backpack and placed the flip-flops and leftover socks inside, making a mental note to return the other pair of shoes at the earliest opportunity. 

A shuffling sound to her right caught her attention, so she turned her head to see that both Mus and Pest had climbed into the empty shoebox and were proudly peering over its sides as though they owned the world. Seven had been planning to recycle it, but apparently that wasn’t an option. She picked up the box with the two still in it and walked into the Pokémon Center. 

“Oh my God, how cute!” Nurse Joy squealed as she caught sight of them. “Wait right there while I get my camera.”

“Very well,” Seven replied as Mus and Pest preened themselves in preparation.

Joy bent down and pulled her purse out from under the counter and began to dig around in it, a look of intense concentration on her face. 

“Ah, there we go!” she said, holding up a small, pink digital camera. “Now, everybody smile!”

Seven had never been very good at smiling on command, but she gave it her best effort nonetheless. Joy snapped the picture and eagerly looked down at the display screen. Her own smile faltered briefly.

“Um, let’s take another one. This time, try uh, just try thinking of things that make you happy,” she said diplomatically. 

Seven repressed a sigh. It seemed that she still needed more practice at smiling. At least this instruction was easier to follow. Many images flashed through her head all at once: meditation exercises with Tuvok. Playing Velocity with Captain Janeway, and then arguing with her. Improving the ship’s efficiency. Singing with the Doctor, speaking with young Naomi Wildman, experimenting in her Astrometrics laboratory and besting Lieutenant Torres at anything. She thought of all of the little pleasures she enjoyed in her day-to-day life, and though she knew that returning to Voyager could prove to be difficult, she did not doubt that she was fully capable of doing so. 

“Much better!” said Joy as she snapped a second picture, then nodded in satisfaction at the screen. “Now, let’s get your little buddies all healed up and fed, hmm?”

A short while later, Seven dubiously inspected the sandwich she’d purchased from the Pokémon Center’s vending machine before coming to the conclusion that it was unlikely to cause excess gastronomic distress. She cast an amused glance at Mus and Pest, who were clearly far less suspicious of their own dinner, and pulled Professor Oak’s paper on Totodile behavior out of her pocket and began to read it as she ate. A short time later, she had committed the piece’s contents to memory and developed a somewhat clearer understanding of the training and handling that Zero would require (Oak had recommended keeping a rolled-up magazine on hand) but still she knew that more information would be required. She headed over to one of the Pokémon Center’s public-use computers and set about looking up the sources Professor Oak had cited. 

Though the PC was technologically primitive, it was simple to navigate, and she was soon able to uncover a wealth of information not only about Pokémon, but the planet on which she had been stranded. She momentarily froze when she saw that, but for a few superficial geological differences, the world she was on was Earth. Though such an occurrence was not without precedent—as Captain James T. Kirk had once discovered a planet identical to Earth—but this truly stretched the laws of probability. Once again, it was clear to Seven that more research was in order.

Several hours passed, and exhaustion began to overtake her, so she reluctantly decided to halt her research for the night. She closed the browser with its forty Poképedia tabs and logged out of the PC, and stretched out her arms carefully, so as not to disturb Pest, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder, or Mus, who was snoring contentedly in her lap. She then gently gathered Mus into her arms, carried him over to her bunk for the night, and laid him down next to the pillow, where he grunted, rolled over onto his back, stretched out and yawned hugely before falling back to sleep. Seven then nudged Pest awake and persuaded him to climb down her arm and perch on the ladder to the unoccupied top bunk. With that done, she settled into bed and was asleep in short order. 

As she entered the REM stage, a dream took hold of her. She suddenly found herself falling headfirst into a never-ending abyss of darkness, completely paralyzed. At least, it seemed to be unending, until her skull struck the bottom and she crumpled into a heap. Seven knew then that this must be a dream, for she was still alive despite the fact that she knew she had been falling from a great distance at terminal velocity and had struck a surface as hard as steel, and therefore she should no longer have a brain with which to reason this out.

_If this is a dream,_ she wondered, _why am I in so much pain?_

“Yeah, sorry about that,” answered a booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Seven found that she was able to move once more, and with great effort she pulled herself to her feet. She rapidly scanned the area for the source of the voice, and saw in the distance a ball of light, growing larger and brighter as it approached. Soon she was able to make out a shape within the light, though it was still too faint to distinguish.

“Who are you?” she called out.

“I…” the being paused for effect, “am Arceus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued...eventually.


	4. Chapter Four

As the strange being drew closer, Seven saw that he was vaguely horse-like in form, with a spiked golden wheel surrounding his midsection, and a head that tapered off into a flowing, silvery mane. His coat was a mixture of light and dark grey fur (though she had never had much experience with horses, Seven knew that the majority of "white" horses were actually called grey, and she also knew that no one particularly cared about this fact apart from equestrians), and his eyes glowed red and green. His shining golden aura was almost painful for Seven to look at, yet she found that she could not tear her eyes away from his splendor. Unfortunately, this effect was completely ruined when he spoke again.

"Hey, howya doin'," he asked in a thick New Jersey accent. "So, I bet you're wonderin' what the hell's goin' on here, right? Well, I got answers for you. First off, sorry I brought you here on such short notice, but things are getting a little desperate around here and--"

" _You_ are the one who abducted me and stranded me here on this planet?" Seven interjected sharply. "State your purpose."

"I was _getting_ to that, thank you very much," Arceus replied sulkily. "Look, there are actually a couple of reasons I need you here. So, by now you've noticed how powerful and dangerous even low-level Pokémon are, and ah, I see you've learned about legendary Pokémon, too."

"How do you know that?" Seven asked.

"'Cause we're inside your mind right now, genius. I can see everything you got in here," Arceus replied with a casual toss of his mane. 

"Inside my mind," Seven repeated frostily.

"Yeah, you know, it's like you're dreaming, except it's all real, get it?" he explained. 

Seven nodded in understanding and mild relief. Dreams that were also real were matters with which she had had some previous experience. Arceus smirked at her, a strange sight on an already strange face.

"Yeah, I see this ain't exactly unfamiliar territory for you. Interesting...Well, anyway, if there aren't any more _interruptions_ , I'll explain what's going on," he said.

Seven sighed in defeat. "Very well."

"Thank you. Okay, so you know about legendary Pokémon, right? Ultra rare, ultra powerful, and generally pretty full of themselves as well. Well, okay, they're actually pretty cool once you get to know 'em, but they still tend to be pretty aloof, and with good reason. Having a legendary on your team is the ultimate status symbol among trainers, so there's always some stupid kid chasing us down and lobbing their sad little Pokéballs at us," he said with a mild chuckle and a shake of his head. "Anyways, they ain't the problem. The problem is that there are some real dirtbags out there who'll stop at nothing to capture the most powerful legendaries and exploit their colossal power for their own ends." 

Though Seven was not typically the imaginative sort, it was all too easy for her to envision the kind of destruction just one power-hungry human could unleash with a legendary Pokémon under their control.

"So you get what we're dealing with here," Arceus said, noting her thoughts. "That's why I need you here. Your ...unique… way of looking at the world is one of the many distinctive qualities you possess that should serve you well on your journey. Speaking of,  
I guess it'd help if I told you what I need you to do, yeah?"

"Who is the legendary Pokémon you wish me to capture?" Seven asked, cutting right to the chase.

Arceus grinned at her. "Heh, I like you, kid. You got backbone. I knew I made the right choice bringing you here."

"That is debatable," said Seven frostily.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry I kidnapped you. But I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't desperate. If you don't capture the Rainbow Pokémon Ho-oh before Red, there's gonna be hell to pay."

"Red," Seven repeated incredulously. "You are referring to the child who dismantled the criminal organization Team Rocket three years ago?"

"That's the one. He was a good kid and a powerful trainer, but something's…changed recently. He's gone dark, he's not who he used to be, and even I don't know exactly why, but let's just say I have my suspicions. That's not important right now, though," he added as Seven arched her eyepiece inquisitively. "Look, all you gotta know right now is that you need to capture Ho-oh as soon as possible, but to do that you're gonna need to win all eight Johto League gym badges first. And also--ah, crap, you're waking up. Listen, look for my servants, they'll help you on your way! And watch out for--oh, too late…" 

Seven opened her eyes and Arceus vanished. She lay still for a moment, absorbing the conversation she'd just had. It seemed that her only chance of returning to Voyager was to follow the directive that had been laid out before her. If that was the case, she decided, then the best course of action was to plot out and begin a training regimen as soon as possible. 

As it was only 0530, and she felt unable to leave Zero in the care of people who had done nothing to deserve him, she resumed her internet research and began strategizing. One hour later, thanks to her Borg-enhanced memory and technological abilities, she was satisfied that she had gained a working knowledge of the Pokémon who lived in Johto, the regional gyms, technology and culture. She had to admit that the ways in which Pokémon had influenced the human way of life on this Earth-like planet was fascinating, and despite herself she was eager to learn more, but only within reasonable limits. She was not enthused about the possibility of learning more about a certain topic discussed by a website she had accidentally stumbled upon, which was aimed at an audience who loved Pokémon more than they probably should. It was times like this that made her wish that the "brain bleach" that Tom Paris had once mentioned was real. Seven cringed at the memories; at least she knew now that she would never have a Tentacruel in her party. She mentally pushed aside the images and walked downstairs to the clinic, where Nurse Joy was switching shifts with her cousin Nurse Joy. 

"Good morning, Seven! You're up early," said the Joy whose shift had just ended.

"Good morning," Seven replied. "I have much training to do before I challenge the first gym."

Both Joys nodded approvingly. 

"Well, Zero should be ready to go in a few minutes. I'll discuss our thoughts on his case with you then. Until then, why don't you feed your other Pokémon and grab a muffin or two? They're delivered fresh every morning!" said the incoming Nurse Joy, gesturing towards the basket on the counter that was nearly overflowing with various types of muffins.

Seven let a still-sleeping Mus and Pest out of their Pokéballs and gently carried them over to the feeding station, where she selected two metal bowls and small, complimentary packets of appropriate food for them. Both Pokémon awoke instantly at the sound  
of the food falling into the bowls, and even Seven could not suppress a smile as they dove in with appreciative cries. She left them to their breakfast and helped herself to a lemon poppy seed muffin while Nurse Joy set about her morning duties. 

Shortly after Seven and her Pokémon had finished their breakfast, Nurse Joy signaled for her to follow. Seven recalled Mus and Pest to their Pokéballs and walked into an exam room where Zero was (thankfully) waiting inside his Pokéball. Joy walked to the opposite side of the counter that stood in the middle of the room and leaned on it. 

She gently cleared her throat and began. "Well, the tests we ran last night seemed to indicate that he's not suffering from any physical illnesses or injuries, so I think it's safe to rule them out as possible causes for his behavior. It's possible that he went through a traumatic event in his past, but given that he was raised from an egg by Professor Elm, I find it highly more likely that he simply has poor impulse control and is, um, let's say overly proud of his power, with anger management issues as well. The good news is that he can be rehabilitated! I've printed out a list recommended reading, as well as some therapeutic and trust-building exercises that I recommend you do with him daily. It may take some time before you see any improvement, but he is fully capable of becoming a well-adjusted Pokémon," she finished, and handed a thick sheaf of paper to Seven.

"Thank you," said Seven, nodding politely and giving the top page a cursory glance.

It was kind of Nurse Joy to go to such effort to help her and Zero, but Seven was not entirely certain it was worthwhile for her to attempt rehabilitating him; she had been strongly considering trading him with someone who was more familiar with Totodile and had the time needed to train him. That, or storing him in the computer, never to be released again. Joy must have sensed her doubt, as she placed a hand on Seven's shoulder.

"One more thing," she said, "I know that rehabilitating Zero might be a difficult process, and it may be easier just to store him away, but I urge you to at least give him a chance. If not for him then for your training career; Totodile's line is tough as nails and about as sharp and pointy," she added, grinning. 

"That is not a compelling argument," Seven replied, wincing at the thought of Zero becoming pointier than he already was.

Nurse Joy chuckled. "Not even if you can aim him at your foes?"

Seven considered this. "Perhaps then," she conceded.

"There you go!" said Joy cheerfully. "Now then, unless you have any more questions, why don't you get out there and start training?"

***

The first item on Seven's agenda was returning to New Bark Town to give Dr. Elm her shoes back. Upon reaching Route 29, she let Mus and Pest out of their Pokéballs to accompany her. Mus walked closely by her side lest any wild Pokémon jumped out at him, while Pest sat on her shoulder and eyed her starburst implant with obvious longing. 

"Do not," she warned. 

Pest slumped in sulky disappointment, but he behaved himself nonetheless. The walk to Professor Elm's lab was uneventful, aside from the wild Pokémon that kept attacking Seven's party every few steps. Soon Mus, Pest and Zero were an even level eight, and Zero had only tried to eat two of the Pokémon he'd fought. One had been a female Sentret, which Seven caught and named Scout. 

Scout was old, greying, blind in one eye and missing several teeth, but was in spite of all that surprisingly tough, and had nearly caught up to the others level-wise by the time they reached the lab. 

Seven walked into the lab and was greeted by a distraught scientist, who wordlessly escorted her to a very angry Professor Elm. 

"It's bad enough that they let that boy escape in broad daylight, but they couldn't even keep my Pokémon from being stolen by him again! I swear the entire police force has Muk for brains," he ranted as he paced back and forth.  
When he saw Seven, he stopped and gave her a tight smile. "Hey, Seven. What can I do for you?"

"I have come to return your wife's shoes," she replied, pulling the flip-flops out of her backpack and handing them to him.

"Thanks, I'll make sure she gets them," he said, relaxing a little.

"You're welcome. Were you just talking about Silver? Has he escaped police custody?" she asked, settling into her parade rest stance.

Professor Elm nodded bitterly. "He took Chikorita with him, too. I swear, every time I think the police in this town can't get any more incompetent…"

"I will endeavor to find Silver and return your Pokémon to you," said Seven, who felt that she owed him as much.

"That's really nice of you, Seven, but don't put yourself to too much trouble. With any luck, the police in another city will be able to take care of it. Just focus on training hard and enjoying your journey," he replied. 

Seven nodded. "I will attempt to do so. Unless there is anything further you require of me, I will resume my training."

"Why don't you let me heal up your Pokémon first?" Elm suggested. "Also, if you have the time, I'd like to hear what Nurse Joy said about Zero."

"Acceptable," Seven replied.

As Elm loaded the Pokéballs into his healing machine, Seven briefed him on Zero's condition, then showed him the lists that Nurse Joy had given her. 

"These are some excellent book recommendations," he said a few minutes later. "And you're in luck; the library at Violet City's Pokémon school should have most of these titles. Since you'll be passing by the school on your way to the gym anyway, why not stop by and check out a few of them?"

"I will endeavor to do so. Thank you," Seven replied as she turned to leave.

"No problem. Drop by anytime!" he said cheerfully. 

After Seven left, Professor Elm, now a good deal calmer, resumed his examination of the egg Mr. Pokémon had sent him. 

"What are you?" he mumbled to himself, carefully turning it over in his hands.

***

Seven's return journey was equally uneventful, with Scout joining the rest of the team at level eight and Zero resentfully obeying Seven's orders not to eat fainted Pokémon. Every time he was recalled into his Pokéball, it was with both of his middle fingers at full attention. Mus was still reluctant to fight, and kept shooting pitiful glances towards Seven whenever she made him face a wild Pokémon. While Seven was not as immune to cuteness as she believed herself to be, his efforts were in vain. Pest, meanwhile, was venting his frustration at not being allowed to steal Seven's metallic facial implants by taking it out on every Pokémon he faced.

They made it back to Cherrygrove City by 11:30 AM, and briefly stopped at the Pokémon Center for healing and lunch. Once everyone was full, Seven continued on to the market, where she bought a couple of extra potions and Pokéballs. With that done, they made it to Route 30 within an hour. It was turning out to be a beautiful day, typical of a late Johto spring. Even Seven was beginning to relax and enjoy herself as she and her party walked down the tree-lined path that was bursting with green. 

Their progress was suddenly interrupted when a man waved them over from his front yard, which was full of apricorn trees. Seven approached cautiously; even with Borg-enhanced strength and a team of Pokémon, it never hurt to be careful.

"Hi there!" the man said when Seven got closer. "I'm Fred, and I've been handing out these free apricorn cases to everyone who passes by. Y'see, every year about this time, my apricorn trees produce more fruit than I know what to do with. I hate to see 'em go to waste, so you'd be doing me a favor if you took as many as you wanted. How 'bout it? They're delicious and useful; you can eat the innards and use the shells to make Pokéballs. Whatcha say?"

"Very well, I accept. Thank you," Seven replied, once again pleasantly surprised at the openness and generosity of so many of the people on this planet.

She accepted the cooler and spent a few minutes picking apricorns while all of her Pokémon happily ate the ones that had fallen to the ground. By the time they resumed their journey, even Zero was in a better mood, so Seven allowed him to stay out of his Pokéball and walk with the rest of them. This turned out to be a bad decision, as he hassled and tripped up the other Pokémon and got into a fight with Scout, who had clearly not forgiven him for trying to eat her earlier. With a sigh, Seven returned him to his Pokéball. The party had not walked much farther when one of the children she had seen battling the day before ran up to her. 

"You're a trainer, right? he asked, and went on before she could answer, "Then there's no backing down. Go, Chompy!"

He held out a Pokéball dramatically and released the Ratatta with the impressive stats that she had seen the day before.

Seven looked at the members of her team who were out of their Pokéballs and deliberated for a moment before saying, "Mus, quick attack."

With a great whimpering sigh, Mus geared up and launched himself at his foe, while the boy shouted "Use quick attack, too! You can do it, Chompy!"

Chompy may have been strangely powerful, but Mus had several levels on him, and while his fighting style was best described as "reluctant," he still managed to knock out a large chunk of his foe's hit points with his quick attack, and didn't even try to run when Chompy then smacked into him, doing far less damage.

"Use quick attack again," said Seven, as the boy commanded his Ratatta to do the same. 

Once again, Mus proved to be faster. He shuddered, clenched his teeth, and leapt forward, body-checking Chompy and knocking him out cold. Upon realizing he'd won, Mus flumped onto his belly and let out a great sigh of relief. 

"Well done," Seven praised him with a brief smile as the boy grumbled and recalled Chompy into his Pokéball.

"Ratta!" said Mus, and got up only to immediately flop back down on Seven's feet. 

Even the kid had to smile at that. "Your Pokémon's real cute, miss!" he said, handing over her winnings. 

Seven paused to consider the most appropriate response. She soon settled on "Yours is aesthetically pleasing as well."

The boy cocked his head to the side, not unlike Ethan. "Huh? What's that mean?"

"Your Ratatta is also cute," Seven clarified. 

"Oh, cool. Thanks! I'm Joey, by the way. Let's battle again sometime! See ya!"

And with that, he jogged off to the Pokémon Center. Seven turned to continue her trek to Violet City, but she hadn't gone far when another child trainer challenged her to battle. Pest made short work of his Pokémon, gained a level and learned the move 'gust' in the process. It was shortly after this that a curious chain of events unfolded.

As she and her team were passing through a patch of tall grass, Mus suddenly tripped over a sleeping Spinarak, who immediately woke up and began chittering angrily, waving a foreleg like a fist. Though Mus was the one responsible for this, Seven elected to send Zero out against her, as she was reasonably certain that he probably wouldn't try to eat a Poison-type Pokémon. She didn't yet know how right she was. 

Zero emerged from his ball with a swagger and a brash cry of "Dile!" then froze upon seeing just what he was up against.

He cried out again, but this time there was no hint of bravado, only primal terror. A smile slowly blossomed on Seven's face as she saw him tremble and realized that the answer to his "behavioral problems" stood cursing before her. Seven immediately decided not to bother with trying to get Zero to battle and just threw a Pokéball at the angry Spinarak, subconsciously holding her breath until she heard the satisfying "click" of a successful capture. 

She picked up the Pokéball and, recalling a certain holodeck adventure that Captain Janeway had once had, spoke the name "Arachnia."

As he began to grasp the finer points of this turn of events (namely, that he was now traveling with that which he feared above all things), Zero emitted a whimper worthy of Mus, then bolted towards Seven and latched onto the back of her leg, shivering and gazing fearfully up at the Pokéball in her hands, For his part, Mus cheerfully bumped paws with Scout while Pest danced around on Seven's shoulder; they too understood the situation and couldn't be happier that Zero had finally met his match. 

Seven recalled Zero and let her new team member out to meet the others. Despite her earlier anger, Arachnia quickly warmed up to her new teammates as they showered her with adoration and praise. The celebration soon ended, however, and the journey continued, though it was interspersed with challenges from trainers and wild Pokémon alike. While Arachnia still had a lot of catching-up to do in terms of levels, she still showed a lot of potential. Though Seven frequently had to switch her out to prevent her from fainting, she usually got a few good hits in first, and was as agile and cunning as a spider ought to be. As a bonus, Zero was now on his best behavior, and hadn't so much as tried to nibble on the Pokémon he knocked out since Arachnia had joined the party, nor did he flip off Seven when she called him back. It was turning out to be a very good day.

***

Arachnia had just reached level six after defeating a wild Sentret when Seven heard a plaintive cry coming from a nearby cavern. Her time on Voyager had caused her to develop a condition known as "Chronic Hero Syndrome" just like the majority of the crew, so she rushed into the cave without a second thought. It was exceptionally dark inside, though this posed no challenge to her Borg-enhanced vision, and so she soon found the source of the cry, a female Zubat whose wing was entrapped by a fallen rock. Seven quickly removed the rock and found that the wing was broken in two places. Seeing no other alternative, she decided to catch the injured Pokémon, who was now entering into shock. As with Mus, the ball only shook once before it clicked shut. She let her new Zubat out of the ball and was about to examine her when she noticed a note that was attached to a string around the Pokémon's neck. 

It read, "To whomever may be reading this, please take good care of my Valerie, as I can no longer do so myself. I release her to you."

There was a bloodstain on the signature, so it was difficult even for Seven to discern, but it appeared to be "Dr. Acula." 

"Valerie, then," said Seven, and she gently picked up the injured Pokémon and carried her outside to examine her broken wing more closely.

Fortunately, they were clean breaks, so Seven set about making a temporary splint out of a sturdy stick and the string that had held the note, and sprayed a potion on the wing for good measure. The other Pokémon watched the process curiously, but were careful not to crowd their new teammate. Even Zero kept a respectful distance, though this was largely because he was staring suspiciously at Arachnia, lest she made any sudden moves towards him. For her part, Arachnia was thoroughly enjoying her power over him. 

Seven finished setting the bone to the best of her ability with only a minimum of struggle from Valerie, who seemed to understand that her new trainer was trying to help. Seven tried to fix the splint into place, but it wasn't sturdy enough. She looked up and saw Arachnia tormenting Zero by waving her forelegs at him while he stood frozen with fear, and an idea came to her.

"Arachnia, use string shot on Valerie's wing," she ordered.

With a cry of "Rak-rak!" the spider did as commanded and had soon wrapped the wing tightly in strong, silken threads.

"Well done. Thank you," said Seven after lightly checking the bonds. "Let us continue."

The welcome station for Violet City was now in sight, and they all walked towards it a brisk pace, with Arachnia taking the lead and Seven carrying Valerie. A few more trainers and wild Pokémon stood between them and the city, but the battles were ending more and more quickly as Seven's team leveled up, so the delay was not appreciable. 

They had just entered the welcome station when Seven noticed a sign stating that only one Pokémon may accompany each trainer outside of its Pokéball while within city limits. She opted to let Valerie stay out, as she didn't want to risk jostling her unnecessarily. Fortunately for the injured Pokémon, Violet City's Pokémon Center was close-by, and Seven wasted no further time bringing her in to see the Nurse Joy on duty.

"Oh, the poor thing!" Joy exclaimed upon seeing them. "Go right into exam room 2 while I take a look-see at this little one."

"Acceptable," Seven replied, and handed Valerie over to Joy with some difficulty, as she cried out and clung with her good wing to Seven's arm. 

"She will not harm you," Seven attempted to reassure her, and while being comforting was not one of her strong suits, it was apparently enough for Valerie, who reluctantly let go and allowed herself to be carried off with Nurse Joy.

On her way to the exam room, Seven noticed a message board with a flyer posted on it. She took a closer look and saw that it was a trade request; a Bellsprout in exchange for an Onix. She quickly memorized the listed address, as she knew a rock type would be useful against the upcoming flying type gym. That done, she proceeded into the exam room and waited for Nurse Joy to return. While she waited, she took some time to think more about her situation and what Arceus wanted from her, which she had not had much opportunity to do thus far. 

Why had he chosen her out of all of Voyager to complete this quest? That wasn't an especially difficult question to Seven, as she _was_ Borg and thus physically and mentally superior to her crewmates, but why had he specified her worldview as one of the traits that would help her most on her journey?

She hadn't had much chance to dwell on the matter further when Nurse Joy walked in, smiling and carrying a splint-free Valerie, who chirped her species' name cheerfully at the sight of Seven. 

"All better!" said Nurse Joy, placing Valerie on the examination table. "You did a great job setting the bone; it saved me a bit of work! Pretty much all I had to do was run the bone-knitter over her wing a couple of times. Where'd you learn to set a breakage so well?"

"I have had basic first aid training," Seven replied, leaving it at that.

"Looks like you were paying close attention that day. Anyway, she's going to be fine, she just needs a day or two of rest in the computer and she'll be good to go, if you want her on your team, that is. It does take the Zubat line a little while to grow and build strength, but if you're kind and patient with them they'll evolve into powerful allies. Just something to think about," Joy advised.

"I will take that into consideration," said Seven.

In truth, she had already decided to keep Valerie on her team. Aside from her battling potential--which according to Seven's research the previous evening would eventually become quite formidable--she also felt a strange sense of responsibility and obligation towards the creature that she could only partially explain. Yes, the mysterious, blood-splattered request from Dr. Acula accounted for a part of her reasoning, to be sure, as did Valerie's already evident trust in her, which she was loathe to betray (also for reasons she couldn't understand). Beyond the obvious reasons, however, she was lost as though at sea, and not for the first time she wished her Captain were there to engage in one of their philosophical discussions and provide insight into Seven's developing emotions. This thought process went through her mind at warp speed; being Borg did have its benefits. She made the Zubat equivalent of eye contact with Valerie and took out her Pokéball.

"I will return for you soon," she promised, and returned her to her ball.

"Glad to hear it," said Nurse Joy, smiling in professional satisfaction. "Now, why don't I go and heal up your other Pokémon while you put your Zubat in the computer for the night?" 

"Acceptable," Seven replied, and followed Joy out into the lobby.

As usual, the process of healing battle-worn Pokémon was so quick and efficient that it was nearly done by the time Seven had set Valerie's Pokéball into the device that would temporarily convert her to into the PC's data. Once again, Seven was fascinated by the technological advances of the planet, at least that which involved Pokémon. Human medical technology in particular lagged far behind its Pokémon counterpart, largely due to the numerous differences in biology between the two kingdoms. Devices that healed Pokémon in seconds had little to no effect on humans whatsoever, and the medical practices and technology available for humans roughly matched that of early 21st-century Earth. The EMH would have been horrified. 

The computers used for Pokémon storage were equally impressive; from what she understood, the computer boxes that unused Pokémon went into were somewhat like small holodecks, where up to thirty Pokémon per box could roam around, interact with each other and eat infinitely-replenished digitalized food that could actually sustain them, given that they too were currently in digital form. It was nearly the perfect place for Valerie to recover, except for the fact that for the time being, she was in there alone. Therefore, the logical solution was to catch more Pokémon, starting with a Bellsprout. She collected the rest of her team from Nurse Joy and immediately left the Pokémon Center to do just that.

To be continued.


End file.
